Another living in Stockholm salary thread - 2018

Specific questions and figures (maths!)

I've seen alot threads on this in the past, but didn't get really a good handle on expectations or figures - e.g. posters had vague qualitative descriptions like "good living" / "enough", didn't specify pre or post tax, etc.

Here's the situation:

- family of 3 (me, wife, 3 year old) moving to stockholm- 1 income (me), wife (not working), 3 year old (tbd )- income (would rather not say exact figure), but it consists of 1) monthly salary + 2) quarterly (i.e. 4x per year) cash bonus

Questions:- FYI: all figures are fictional, are in gross (pre-tax) monthly amounts, in Swedish crowns SEK,

- Q1: if my monthly gross salary is 50kSEK and my quarterly cash bonus is 75kSEK, is the bonus taxed any differently than the monthly salary?... to clarify i know that the cash bonus could be taxed at a higher rate to help offset tax withholding calculations, my real question here is if i earn 50kSEK monthly and 75kSEK quarterly = 50x12 + 75*4 = 900kSEK annually, does that have higher taxes overall than say if i was paid 75kSEK monthly gross salary (12x75=900kSEK annual same amount) with no cash bonus?

- Q2: when other people talk about gross monthly salary, are they only considering actual salary or do they blend in their cash bonuses (if applicable). for example, in my previous jobs i would get a 1-time annual bonus at the end of the year, and i wonder if in general when someone talks about their monthly gross if they take these bonuses into account

- Q3: given the family size and age of child, what could be expected costs of living in Stockholm on a monthly basis? e.g. grocery bill, eating out bill, entertainment bill, schooling costs, clothing costs, etc... i know this varies and is dependent upon my situation and lifestyle but i want to hear YOUR thoughts (please quantify with data, e.g. we are a family of four and eat out 2x a week at 100kr per pizza place...) as i'm trying to see if there's some average i can discern

- Q4: going back to the 900kSEK annual (i am assuming it doesn't matter from a tax % perspective thow this gets paid to me, whether it's 12x monthly, 1x annual, 12x salary + 4x bonus, etc), can someone please help me understand how much of the *mandatory* tax goes to my pension? i.e. if i earn 900kSEK per year, without doing anything extra or manual, what can i expect to be contributed to my Swedish pension?

- Q5: i have heard that housing costs (both for rental and purchasing) have gone down in the past year, but i haven't really seen much of a difference in prices nor do i see alot of inventory out in the market, what places (like Hemnet, Blocket, etc) would people recommend to look at both rentals and purchasing property?

- Q6: we plan to not have a car if we live in the city, but will likely need one if we live in the suburbs (eg. Huddinge, Nacka, Sollentuna, etc); taking into account leasing, insurance, gas, rental parking spot costs, registration, etc. what would be a good budget (in terms of monthly net cost) to estimate given we buy a ~30k euro (300kSEK) brand new auto?

- Q7: any tips of saving money? - very open ended question, but would love to hear thoughts! (for example, check with your employer on local discounts / benefits, take your son to XYZ park as it's free but has animals, get the annual subway pass instead of monthly, etc)

If you salary is around 600,000kr that puts you in the upper tax bracket. So expect to pay 62/63% of those bonuses in tax. Others can comment more specifically on accommodation but it does really depends on if you buy or rent, and how far you plan to travel into town. We spend 5000-6000kr on food for a family of 4 a month, we could spend less if we bought slightly cheaper foods but not that much.A car, depends on your lifestyle plan. Many manage easily without, but depending on your interests and not wanting your wife to feel trapped when you are working it might be near essential.